Organizational justice, commitment and performance in developing countries : The case of the UAE

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential links between organizational justice, organizational commitment (employees’ loyalty) and job performance in a developing country. It also focuses on the experiences and perceptions of fairness/justice in the workplace, and how such perceptions predict organizational commitment and job performance. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted in an organizational setting composed of three government organizations. The sample comprises 500 full‐time employees. The data were collected through a self‐administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS. Findings – The findings show that organizational justice (procedural, interactional) is positively and significantly correlated with affective and continuance commitment as well as with job performance. In addition, the result of the statistical forms support the moderating effect of affective and continuance commitment of high job performance. Research limitations/implications – The sample represented only governmental sector and only one emirate of the UAE's seven emirates. The implications of the findings for researchers together with some future guidelines are discussed in the paper. Practical implications – The paper provides practitioners with some advice about understanding and managing justice, commitment and work performance. Originality/value – The paper is the first study in the UAE and the Middle East that examines the links between justice, commitment and performance in state‐owned organisations.